The England skipper smashed in a second-half penalty to take him above Sir Bobby Charlton in the charts, and the Manchester United star now leads the pack of scorers on 50 strikes for his national team.

Harry Kane had earlier opened the scoring but in truth, the game against the Swiss will be remembered for little else, and the United skipper delivered a speech inside the dressing room after the game to thank everyone who had been a part of helping him reach the international milestone.

‘I’d like to thank every one of you, coaches, players, staff who I’ve worked with for such a long time,’ said an emotional Rooney in the dressing room.

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‘This is such a huge moment for myself and my family and my career. Hopefully for the team, for myself, there’s a lot more to come — we can be successful.’

Rooney also talked up the crop of youngsters emerging for Roy Hodgson’s squad, and the 29-year-old tipped them for greatness with England’s place in Euro 2016 safely secured after last Saturday’s 6-0 win over San Marino.

He added: ‘Hopefully there’s a lot of young lads coming through, Harry (Kane), Ross (Barkley), Raheem (Sterling), who can come close and even pass me in the future.